Personal Development Plan Skills Review
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Strengths
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Action
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Review date
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1-Photoshop - I have got some skills with Photoshop. I know how to edit photos and put different effects on them.
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My target/goal: Get better than I am at editing photos by improving my basics skills and looking at the more advanced things that I could do.
Action point:
1- Start to get my own photos and try to edit them myself by exploring the tools in Photoshop.
2- Look at books on how to use basic tools and how to use them properly then start looking at tutorials of more advanced tools. 3- Ask some help from teachers who work with Photoshop. Ask them for advice on how to improve your skills and how to do experiments with different tools.
4- Use www.youtube.com as a way of looking at videos explaining how to use Photoshop.
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Medium term (2 months – 1 year)
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8/1/2013 – I’ve completed my first action point which was getting my own photos and editing them using different tools on Photoshop.
8/1/2013 – I’ve looked at some books in the library about Photoshop and I have learnt about what some different tools are for. I thought this was very useful as now I know a little bit more about them.
8/1/2013 – I have asked my Digital Graphics teacher to show me new things on Photoshop and how to improve my skills. I thought this was very good way of learning because the teacher was very clear about what she was explaining to me.
8/1/2013 – I’ve looked at a couple of tutorial videos on YouTube and to be honest I thought it was the best way of learning new things. Here is one of the videos that I’ve watched and thought was very good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-u-OYz2qaUb
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2-Time keeping – I think I’m good at managing my time. I’m always in class in time and so far all my assignments seem to be going well.
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My target/goal: To get in classes in time all semester and make sure that all my assignments are handed in before the deadline.
Action point:
1- Manage my time and things that I do outside of class for example where I go for lunch I will have to make sure that I’m back in class in time.
2- Try to be in everyday at the right time which usually is 9:15am. 3- Make sure to give all my assignments done in time and handed in before the due date. 4- Make a small timetable with important things I need to do. This will keep me in mind with times and due dates of assignments. |
Short term (2 weeks – 2 months)
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15/11/12 – I feel that I have managed my time well in my first semester. I was able to go for lunch everyday outside of the college and still come back at the right time every time. I thought that this was a good achievement because I haven’t got a complaint from teachers about being late to class.
15/11/12 – I was able to be in everyday at the right time in the morning which is 9:15 and I still am being able to until today.
8/1/2013 – I have handed in all my assignments for first semester before the deadline and I feel like that it was a very good achievement. I’m still being able to hand in my assignments before the deadline.
15/11/12 – I have made a small timetable that simply included things that I planned to do during the week. This helped me completing all my assignments in time.
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3-Computer systems - I see myself as someone who can understands computers easily and that can work with them.
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My target/goal: Complete all my assignments and get the best results I can.
1- Get all my assignments completed up to date and in a good standard.
2- Ask my teacher to check if my work is being done correctly. 3- Try to get a merit or distinction in my assignments by completing all assignments in a good standard. 4- Make sure that all my assignments are done and handed in up to date. |
Medium term (2 months – 1 year)
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4/3/2013 – I feel that I have completed all my assignments in a good standard and with the best of my abilities.
4/3/2013 – If I was sure about something in class I would ask my teacher to explain it to me once again. By doing this I was able to complete all my work the correct way.
4/3/2013 – My computer systems gave me my result for the unit and I got a distinction, this was a great achievement for me.
4/3/2013 – All my assignments were handed up to date, I think this really helped me to get the distinction.
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Weaknesses
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Action
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Review date
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1- Information Systems - I find this class a bit harder than the others because there is a lot of theory involved and sometimes I just tend to zone out.
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My target/goal: Pass this class with the best result I can get.
Action point:
1- Get all my assignments completed up to date and handed in the right time.
2- Pay more attention in class when the teacher is explaining something. 3- Keep my work up to date for example completing all the tasks as we go along. 4- Ask my teacher to check my work as I complete them. |
Short term (2 weeks – 2 months)
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8/1/2013 – I have completed all my assignments for this unit and I also handed all of them in the right time.
8/1/2013 – I have paid more attention in class when the teacher was talking. It really helped me when I was doing my assignments and it also helped me to obtain the grade that I got which was a distinction.
8/1/2013 – I have completed all the tasks as we were going along this caused me to be up to date on everything
8/1/2013 – I have asked my teacher to check my work as I was completing them. The reason why I did this was so I could get feedback and change anything that as needed.
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2-Patience - Sometimes I can be very impatient especially when it comes to listening or doing things.
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My target/goal: Be more patient and learn how to wait for things.
Action point:
1- Stop rushing when doing assignments take my time when doing them.
2- Listen to everything a teacher has to say in class about a certain topic that is not interesting. 3- Don’t give up on things that I’m not good. Have more patience and work on them until I get it right. 4- Be patience and try to take notes down when a teacher is explaining things to the class. This will help when starting a new assignment. |
Short term (2 weeks – 2 months)
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15/11/12 – I feel that now I have stopped rushing when doing my assignments. I’m taking a bit more time when doing them which is a lot better.
15/11/12 – I have and still listening to topics that I don’t find it interesting in class. I now know how much it helps when you listen and pay attention to something even when its not
15/11/12 – I feel that I have tried my best in the units that I’m not good without giving up and it paid off in the end. I wasn’t a big fan of information systems but I ended up getting a distinction.
15/11/12 – Most of the times when a teacher was explaining a new assignment I always had a word document open to take down main points and things that I thought was important.
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3-Organisation - I can be a bit unorganised when it comes to keeping my work tidy and planning out my time of when something needs to be done for.
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My target/goal: Keep myself organised with work and times.
Action point:
1- Organise when everything needs to be handed in for.
2- Keep my work organised and tidied up.
3- Make sure that all my work is done and up to date.
4- Get my time organised with schedules things I need to do.
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Short term (2 weeks – 2 months)
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15/11/12 – I have always kept track of my assignments deadline dates by typing them down in a word document.
15/11/12 – I always try to keep my work organized and neat. This is very important because it helps the teachers when looking at or work.
15/11/12 – All my work was and is up to date. I feel that by keeping my work up to date I can get the best grades as possible because I don’t have to rush it when it comes close to the deadline.
15/11/12 – I have tried to make schedules of things I need to do and it seems to have helped me.
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Personal Development Plan
Strengths achieved:
Photoshop: I feel that I have achieved this strength successfully because I think that I have taking all the action points that I had set to improve this strength even more, I feel that I have gotten much better at editing photos on Photoshop and experimenting with new things also.
I have achieved this strength because I have completed the action point that I have set myself in the beginning of the school year. I had set 4 actions points but I feel that 2 of them really helped me to improve my Photoshop skills which were looking at tutorial on YouTube and asking my digital graphics teacher for some help which helped me a lot.
I feel that I can still get much better at Photoshop and to achieve this in future I would concentrate on
watching video tutorials on YouTube because I find it better learning about Photoshop that way but I would also ask some more experience people for some tips.
How have my learning styles helped me:
I’m a visual learner and for that watching tutorials on YouTube has really helped me to achieve this strength because visual learners like myself find it easier to learn things by seeing rather than anything else.
By being a social learner asking a teacher for some help has also helped me to learn more about Photoshop this is because visual learners are good communicators so I did find it easy enough talking to my teacher asking for some tips and also because social learners are good at working with others like I have in my class with my class mates.
I'm also an aural learner and to be honest I feel that this learning style hasn't really helped me to achieve this goal.
Time Keeping: I have achieved and gotten better at this strength as I have been able to manage my time and always be in class at the right time I have done this by following the actions points that I have set at the start of the year.
The action points that I have followed have really helped me to achieve this strength and get better at it but the one that I think helped me the most to achieve this was the one that involved giving all my assignments done in time and handed it before the due date . I have managed my time and things that I do outside of the class in away that it does not get in the way of me being in class at the right time this is very important in my school progress.
In the future I can still get better at time keeping by keeping my good timing in the next school year and in other things also. This could be done by always keeping in mind things that I need to do and how long I have to do it.
How have my learning styles helped me:
I feel that by being a social, visual and aural learner it has not really helped me at all to achieve this strength because this strength was more achieved by self motivation than a learning style.
Computer Systems: For this strength I know that I have definitely achieved my goal which was completing all of my assignments and getting the best results as possible which I did get it and that I’m very happy with it.
I have achieved this strength by following all of the action points that I have set at the start of the year which were: Getting all my assignments completed up to date and in a good standard, ask my teacher to check if my work is being done correctly, try to get a merit or distinction in my assignments by completing all assignments in a good standard, make sure that all my assignments are done and handed in up to date. Although I have 5 action points for this I feel that only 2 were sufficient for me to achieve this were getting all my assignments completed up to date and in a good standard and asking my teach to check if my work is being done correctly.
There’s nothing really that I can do for future for this goal as this unit is fully completed.
How have my learning styles helped me:
Being a visual learner has really helped me to achieve this strength because in class a lot of things were shown up on the board so it was easier for me to take things in which I thought was very good.
Being a social learner has also helped me to achieve this strength because before every assignment we would have a class discussion about what was needed to be done which I thought was very helpful because by being a social learning its better for me to learn things by communicating.
By being an aural learner I feel that it hasn’t really helped me to achieve this goal because this learning style helps to learn things better by sound and there wasn’t really any involved in this goal.
Weaknesses achieved:
Information Systems: for my first weakness I know that I have definitely achieved it as best as possible because I have met my goal which was to pass the unit with the best result possible which I did my teacher has told me that I have currently sitting on a distinction.
At the start of the year I felt that this unit was going to be trouble for me but I have managed to achieve it by following each of my actions points which I found it very helpful. One of the main things that has helped me to achieve this goal if not the main was getting all my tasks done at the correct time and handing them up at the right time so I could get some feedback as quick as possible. Paying attention in class while the teacher was talking and explaining something probably one of the main ways that helped, because this was more of a theory class a lot of explanation had to be done. I have kept my worked up to data as we were going along and I have asked my teacher to check my work when I completed to know how I was doing which was a very good idea. All these things have helped me to obtain this goal.
There’s nothing really that I can do for future as this unit is fully completed.
How have my learning styles helped me:
By being a social learner has really helped me to achieve the weakness because I find it easier to learn things by communicating and talking to people and in most occasions there were a lot of class discussions which I really liked it.
Being a visual and aural learner has not helped me to achieve this weakness at all because not in any time they were necessary.
Patience: by this point of time I feel that I have achieved this weakness which was to improve my patience.
I have achieved this weakness by trying to do the action points that I have set at the start of the year back in September, there were 3 points that have helped me to achieve this which were stop rushing when doing my assignments and take my time when doing them, don’t give up on things that I’m not good at have more patience and work on them until I get it right and listen to everything thing a teacher has to say in class even if its not interesting. I was very impatient but now I feel that I have improved my patience quite a bit. I have stopped rushing when doing my assignments in school which has helped me a lot to get good grades. I have listened to what teachers had o say most of the time even if it wasn’t interesting. Most of the time in every class I always had a word document open taking notes of main points of what a teacher was explain this really helped me.
In future I could improve this weakness by keep doing the action points that I have created and by always trying to be patient no matter what the situation is.
How have my learning styles helped me:
To be honest I think that none of my learning styles have helped me to achieve this weakness because it was all about me myself.
Organization: In September I set myself a goad to keep myself more organized with work and times. In this point of time I strongly feel that I have achieved this weakness which I am very happy with.
Improving my organization has had a lot of benefits I am now able to organize my work a lot more which helps me to keep better track of it. I have tried my best when all of my school work needs to be handed in for and so far I haven’t received any complaints from teachers which proves that I have this well organized. I have also tried my best to keep my work organized for example by adding headings to my work where appropriate and using the right layout. Getting my time organized for example of things that I need to do was very useful and I feel that has really helped me to achieve this.
In future I could improve this even more by keep following the action points that I have followed so far.
How have my learning styles helped me:
Once again for this weakness my learning styles have not helped me at all because they weren’t used at anytime.
Not achieved:
At the minute I don’t feel that I haven’t achieved any of my strengths and weakness as you can see. I feel very comfortable that I have achieved all of them as best as I could.
Learning Styles
A learning style is a way each individual has of learning things, each person has one. There are 7 learning styles these are visual, aural, verbal, physical, logical, social and solitary. I am now going to talk abit about all these 7 different learning styles.
Visual: a visual learner would usually learn things easier by seeing them. They will use the help of images, colours and other medias this will help them to learn something much easier. Visual learners will like the use of diagrams, mind maps etc in order to organize information and communicate with others. They will also like to highlight things that they have read making it stand out helping them to concentrate more in a certain thing.
Aural: a aural learner is someone who likes to work with sounds, they are very good with sounds. Aural learners use sound like music and rhyme in their learning this makes things much easier for them when learning something. They can also use audiobooks for their learning and CD’s with recorded audio to do with something they wish to learn.
Verbal: verbal learners like to use written and spoken words. A verbal learner usually finds it very easy to express themselves both verbally and spoken. Verbal learners love to read books and do loads of writing, they really enjoy it. They also like working with others and do group discussions and write down main points and share their ideas with the group.
Physical: physical learners like to use their body and sense of touch to learn what’s around them. Physical learners will love to do sport and other outdoor activities involving body exercise. Also physical learners can use the kinds of drawing and writing to learn things as both of them are physical which means it will suit them. They would rather more practical classes for example Art, TD and PE.
Logical: logical learners will find it very easy to do mathematics calculations and solve problems by using their head this is because they love using their brain to solve problems and learn. Logical learners find it very easy working with numbers they can do huge calculations with no mistake. They like to think things out, take notes down and play games for example brainteasers.
Social: social learners are those who like working in groups they are good team workers, they love sharing their opinions and thoughts with others. They find it very easy to talk to other people about anything like helping them with things and giving advice. They like listening to what others have to say and try their best to understand it. When it comes to learning social learners will find it easier to learn things with a class that’s why they love working in groups.
Solitary: solitary learners will prefer to learn things by themselves alone and away from others this is because they are very quiet people and they are not good talkers. They are more independent with their work and like to have their own privacy when learning things. They learn easier by working alone and by doing self-study.
How Do Find Your Own Learning Style
You can do a test to find out what your learning styles are by using this link: http://www.learning-styles-online.com/inventory/questions.php?cookieset=y
My preferred learning styles as you can see in the image above would be visual, social and aural.
This will help me to make my learning more effective because now I know exactly the learning styles that are suitable for me. Because I’m a visual learner I could try and do exactly what I have said in the learning styles above for example visual learners learn things easier by looking, doing diagrams of things, mind maps or highlighting main points. As I also have a social learning style this can help my learning to be more effective because now I know that I like learning things in groups and working with others so this can be a strength for me. The third highest learning style that I have is aural as I have explained in my previous task aural learners like to use sound as a way of learning I don’t think that’s a lot like me but I will try to follow the methods. I do think that this can help my personal development because now I have a better idea of what learning styles are most likely to help me with my work inside of school and outside.
Attributes and Attitudes
Attributes: An attributes is a quality each one of us have these can include specific attributes or general attributes.
Examples of employee attributes that might be required from the Rainbow:
Specific attributes are attributes that are related to the job they are very important and it’s something an employer definitely looks for.
Specific attribute: ICT skills: In the Rainbow Light Charity Knowing how to work with computers for example being able to use different types of software like Word, Database etc will be very helpful. ICT skills will be very important when working alongside the manager in the Rainbow Light Charity. Be able to make blogs for clients to visit and also to help employees to keep up to date with IT by simply checking the blog for changes in the IT industry. Being able to use emails and make sure that all employees are able to use it and email their clients will help the employees to communicate with clients by using IT. Database will probably be used a lot by the manager so it is very important that you know how to use it yourself as you will be working alongside of the manager. Database may be used for contact for example keeping addresses of clients, phone numbers etc. It will also be important that you know how to help volunteers when it comes to making talking books which are saved on to CD’s and then giving out to clients. In some cases you will have to show the clients how to load and listen to the talking book CD’s.
General attributes are the soft skills each person has unlike the specific attributes this is not job related but it can come in very handy in some situations.
General attribute: Organisational: Being able to keep yourself organised no matter what the situation is. An organisational attribute will be very useful for this job as you will be working alongside the manager there will be a lot of organisation to be done. Being able to manage a team of volunteers will definitely involve a lot of organisational skills for example you might need to organise times in which each volunteer will have to come into work. You will be helping the manager to recruit new volunteers this will also involve some organisational skills for example you will need to know how many volunteers you will have to recruit and also what qualifications and skills are required.
Attitudes: This usually means the basic skills we all have each person will have a wide variety of them but here some examples that may be needed for this job.
Examples of personal attitudes that might be expected from a Rainbow volunteer:
Independent: This simply means that a person is able to do things by themselves. In my opinion this is one of the best attitudes that we can offer to an employer as an employee. Being independent in this case means being able to work alone without asking questions all the time. Obviously at the start of every job we will tend to ask questions quite often but it’s best to try not to and try it to do it yourself even if you’re not too sure. This shows the employer that you’re able to do things by yourself without anyone supervising you all the time. I think this attitude will be highly expected from the Rainbow Light Charity and the manager.
Problem solving: This is when a person has the capacity to solve small issues that may occur during the day in a job this would include daily issues. Definitely one of the most important ones and that will definitely be expected by the Rainbow Light Charity. Quite often in a job there will be problems that you will have to find a solution to it. Being able to find a solution for problems no matter what they may be and being able to solve these problems will be very important. It also gives a very good impression to your employer.
The principles of effective communication
Interpersonal skills: To communicate with two or more people must be involved in the conversation. We can express a message by using words, writing, signals and body expression (body language.) The person we talk to uses their senses to gather the aspects of the message.
Good interpersonal are very important when it comes to talking to someone or even when it comes to given a first impression to someone.
In some incase we have to use different methods when communication with different audiences here’s what I mean by that:
Body language – body language is one of those things that we never pay attention when it comes to realizing if we’re doing it right or wrong. Using a good body language during a talk with someone for example interviewing someone for a job in the rainbow light charity is one of the main things when it comes to communicating. What I mean by body language is for example not keeping your hands inside your pockets when being interviewed and making sure that you’re looking at the person that is interviewing you strength in the eye because you can be sure that they will be taking these things into consideration. In the rainbow light charity there will be a lot of communication when it comes to talking to customers or even during an interview so moving your hands when talking to someone will definitely make the communication more effective because it gives the person you’re talking to the impression that you are interested in the topic and it can also be used to express yourself more. Also it is very important that you’re using a good posture when communicating with someone, using a good posture especially in the roll of working alongside the manager will give the manager a better impression of yourself. In my opinion it gives the impression of being confident about what you’re doing. Another very important thing related to body language is using hand gestures. By using hand gestures when communicating to someone especially when talking to a customer will make the conversation more effective simply because you will be expressing yourself more by using hand gestures.
Language used – this is the type of wording that we would use in a conversation. In the rainbow light charity it is important that all staff use the appropriate language when talking to customers as the roll of working alongside the manager when involve analyzing how staff communicate with their customers. Always make sure the words you use are appropriate for who you are talking to and what you are talking about. For example during a formal conversation with someone we would never use any slangs or abbreviations the type of language used here would definitely be different from the one used when talking to our friends. The language used can also be related to when talking to customer that is from another country that do not have very good English. We should try to talk using simple words and going straight to the point instead of making the conversation longer than what it should actually be by doing this the communication between you and the person can be more effective.
Writing communication: is a way in which people communicate by using written words, letters and emails as a form of communication.
Emails – Working alongside the manager means that a lot of communication will need to be done with customers and sometimes it would be much easier by just sending an email to the customer instead of asking them to come to the working area. As the job routine involves working alongside the manager a lot of responsibility will need to be carried out so when writing an email to a clients always make sure to check the spelling of words and grammar of sentences and make sure that it all makes sense.
It is also important that we are communicating with the client correctly by using the right words and by also not using any slang otherwise if you do the client might feel offended and this definitely wont be good for the image of the company. By doing all of these things the written communication done by using emails will me much more effective.
A good example of when to use emails as a form of communicating in the Rainbow Light Charity would be the volunteer emailing customers about new talk books and if they are having trouble loading the talking books the can use the email to help them step by step to load the talking book.
Blogs – Blogs are another very good and effective way to communicate by using writing communication. Very similar to emails we must make sure to proof read everything that you write and check for grammar mistakes also. The layout of a blog is also very important, the colours, text and text sizes that you put in will determine how people will look at the blog and the impression the get from it.
By working alongside of the manager using blogs will be very essential to advertise, not only for clients but also for staff members. Making sure that all staff in the Rain Bow Light charity is up to date with IT is very important and a blog would really help with this matter. We would be able to use the blogs to put up new technology on the blog for so that all staff is always up to date with the IT industry. For this method of communication to be effective the blog must be layout properly in a way that the person who is looking at it will find it interesting.
General communication: this is how we would communicate with one another in general. It is how we communicate to one another. It can involve how we communicate to someone with cultural differences and how accurate we are able to communicate and get what we’re trying to say to others. It can also be how we change the way we communicate to be suitable with a certain audience that you’re talking to.
General communication will be used in the Rainbow Light charity for a lot of different things. General communications will definitely be used when talking to customers as many methods of communicating will be carried out for example by telephone, email, messaging and mainly in person. As working along side of the manager it is very important that you decide the best method to communicate with the customer, it should be mainly suitable for the customer for example: if the customer can’t come to the charity very often the best way to communicate would be by mail or telephone.
Cultural differences
When talking to a group of people in the Rainbow Light charity as you will be working along side of the manger there will be a lot of responsibility you will need to be aware of the cultural differences that there might be within that group of people you are talking to.
Some languages accept different gestures and different types of body language, and even some different words, as where other cultures and languages might take offence to these and look down upon them.
Adapting to suit an audience
The age of your audience can impact on the way you communicate with them. You can raise your voice or use a microphone depending who the audience is this will make the communication more effective and it will keep the communication interested. This will be very important when talking to someone in the Rain Light Charity you will sometimes have to adapt yourself depending who you will be talking to.
When talking to an elder person sometimes it can be hard for them to understand so making sure that the choice of words and how you communicate to the person is very important. It should be simple and easy to understand and sometimes the tone will have to be loud for them to hear it well and clear.
Barriers to Communication
What is a barrier? A barrier is anything that prevents communication from being effective or reached to a person.
General Communication:
Noise: Noise can be a big barrier in general communication. If you’re talking to someone and there happens to be a lot of noise around you it will be very difficult for you and the person to hear each other. You might be able to hear some of the things that the person is saying to you but not all of it this can cause you not to understand exactly what the person is saying to you causing the conversation not to be as effective.
This is why noise can be a barrier to general communication. If you’re arranging a meeting on the phone to someone in the rainbow light charity make sure that you are in a quiet place because if not the person who is on the line might understand things wrong leading to some future issues.
Interpersonal Skills:
Language Used: The language that people use can sometimes be a barrier to communication. If the language being used is not suitable to whoever you are talking to or the audience you’re talking to it, may be difficult for them to understand the conversation. For example if you’re talking to an elder person and you’re using slangs and talking to them the way you talk to your friends, it will be difficult for them to understand what you’re saying to them. This is a good example of a barrier in language used.
When talking to a customer always make sure that they can understand what you’re saying to them and that you’re using the appropriate language so they can clearly understand what you’re saying. Always go straight to the point if you’re talking to someone that has difficulty on hearing this will make it easier for them.
Writing communication:
Spelling and Grammar: Spelling and grammar can be one of the main barriers in writing communication. If you don’t pay attention to your spelling and check if you’re using the correct grammar there will definitely be a barrier to communication. For example if you write a letter to someone and there is some spelling mistakes and a bad grammar, the person that will be reading the letter will find it very difficult to read it and depending how bad it is they wont be able to understand anything that you have written.
It is very important also that whenever you’re writing something that it is laid out properly and easy to read, your writing should also be nice, neat and organized. If you’re typing something on the computer for example on Word always pick a font that is easy to read for example times new roman or arial these two are very clear which will make it very easy to read it.
Reduce the Impact of Barriers
There are some ways in which barriers can be reduced and stopping communication from being effective. I will now explain some ways in which we can stop barriers from happening related to the barriers that I have done before: noise, language used and spelling and grammar.
A way to reduce barriers in communication is to always go somewhere where it will be quieter and both people are able to hear each other clearly. For example if you’re having a serious conversation with someone where a lot of things will be said, going to a quite room where both of you will be able to listen to each other loud and clear and it will definitely reduce the barrier and it will make the communication much more effective than when having noise around you.
Of course there is also the good noise for example depending what the conversation is about having some background noise for example music, can make people express themselves a little bit more and this again will make the communication more effective.
Language used – From my previous task I have given some examples of a barrier that can be caused and stopping the communication from being effective by the language being used. For example talking to an elder person and using words that weren’t used in their time and that they have probably never heard of it is a barrier to communication.
This barrier caused by the language that is being used can be reduced. For example when talking to someone who is older than yourself. Always use correct words and make the sentences shorter and simple to understand (always go straight to point). Using slangs will cause a barrier so trying to avoid slang words will help the communication to be more effective.
In general a way to prevent barriers from happening related to language used is to use the correct language that the audience you’re talking to will be able to understand. What I mean by this is always try to change the way that you talk every time you’re talking to someone different. For example we would not use complicated words to children that are still in primary school because most likely they won’t be able to understand it.
Spelling and Grammar- I have talked about the barriers that will cause communication not to be effective related to spelling and grammar in my previous task. One of them was how it can be hard for someone to read something that has spelling mistakes and bad grammar so it is very important to prevent these from happening.
One of the simplest ways of checking for the correct spelling of words is to check the words you’re having trouble spelling on the dictionary. It is a very easy way and it can be also very quick one you get the hang of it.
As for grammar mistakes the most common way of correcting this is by using Microsoft Office. If you type sentences that has bad grammar in them it will let you know and give you the option to correct it so there is no reason for you to be making grammar mistakes when this easy tool can be used to prevent communication from being effective. Not only that but it also corrects spelling mistakes giving you the right spelling for every word.
Web Based Communication Channels - After
My Interpersonal and Written Communications Skills
In this task I will be making a self evaluation about some of the interpersonal skills and written communication skills that I have used through out the year in this unit and also in other units.
Interpersonal Skills: I have used 2 interpersonal skills that really helped me when completing certain tasks I will now explain how:
Body language – body language is one of those things that we never pay attention when it comes to realizing if we’re doing it right or wrong this has really helped me to complete some tasks in 2 of my units which were this one and multimedia. For these two units I was asked to present two presentations in front of the class and body language was very important to complete them successfully.
In these two presentations it was very important that I used the correct body language as in one of them I was being marked on how well I presented my presentation in front of the class. It was very important that in all times I kept my hands outside of my pockets because this is a bad body language. I’m not going to lie this was a very hard thing for me to do because immediately standing up in front of the class I felt like putting my hands inside of my pockets but I think I did okay.
Also one of the most important things to do with body language and that helps to make communication more effective is keeping eye contact. In both presentations this was very difficult to do because I didn't feel comfortable looking at up at the class but I did managed to do it sometimes. This is definitely something that I will try to improve in future to make my interpersonal skills more effective.
Language used – this is the type of wording that we would use in a conversation or even when giving a presentation. It must be suitable to the audience and makes communication very effective if used correctly.
This interpersonal skill was very essential when I was presenting a presentation to my class and to be honest I think I did very well. I always tried to use the appropriate words and I tried to make them suite my audience which was very important. The language that I used in my presentation for this unit was very complex that included words that some people wouldn't know because they were very IT related but my class mates were able to understand it perfectly. The audience that I give the presentation to had a lot of IT knowledge so they knew exactly what I was talking about.
Also not dragging the talk during my presentation was very important I always tried to go straight to the point but making it very clear to understand. The language used for communicating is very important for making communication more effective so it is very important that it is adapted to different audiences like I have done.
I also had notes pages with things that weren’t in the presentation that only I could see which made the presentation more interesting. I had also rehearsed main points on the slides that I thought needed more detail.
Written communication: is a way in which people communicate by using written words, letters and emails as a form of communication.
Emails – emails is a way of written communication that I have used for every unit to contact my teachers about assignments and other school things. In my opinion emails are very effective to use as a form of communication if used properly. To make this form of written communication effective it is very important that the right spelling are grammar are correct and this is exactly what I have done, most of these emails had a formal structure. Every time before sending an email I would read it over again checking for spelling mistakes and bad grammar, if there was anything wrong I would immediately correct it and then send it.
This is exactly what I did to make my email communication to be effective without causing any trouble and in my opinion it has went well so far and I will keep using it.
Blogs – Blogs are another very good and effective way to communicate by using writing communication. This form of communication is very similar to emails we must make sure to proof read everything that you write and check for grammar mistakes also. The layout of a blog is also very important, the colours, font and font sizes.
I have used a blog for this unit to upload all of my tasks and I have always tried to check my spelling and grammar and correct them after. I find that this is a very good and effective way of communication as people that will be going on my blog will be able to get some very useful information and makes make comments on the blogs.
Conclusion:
Overall I feel that I did well in my presentations. Everything that needed to be covered was covered in detail. My presentations were visually appealing in my opinion as it was colorful and most important it was aimed for the audience that I was giving it to. The tone of voice that I used from the feedback I got was very good as I was speaking loud and clear at all times.
My hand gestures weren’t that very good so this is something that I will try to improve next time and my facial expressions weren’t the best either as I didn’t really make any eye contact to the audience. At the end of my presentation I asked the audience if they had any questions which they did and I tried to answer them as best as I could.
I feel that I haven’t used a lot of methods to reduce the barriers of communication related to the interpersonal skills which were body language and language used so this is something that I could definitely try to do and improve in future. Now for my written communication I have used methods to reduce the barriers a lot of times by checking my spelling and grammar by doing this it definitely made my written communication more effective.
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